About the Elephant Nature Park
Before we dive into the wonderful experiences we had at the ENP, I wanted to share a background about the organization and why it was established. There is an unfortunate history of mistreatment and unnecessary killing of Asian elephants. They have been hunted for their ivory tusks, used as entertainment to make a profit, and are forced to do labor that results in significant injury and sometimes death. Asian elephants have become an endangered species with only 30,000 Asian Elephants left on the planet.
Founded in the 1990s by Saengduean Lek Chailert, the ENP seeks to rescue these mistreated animals and provide a sanctuary for them to live out the rest of their lives. If you are interested, there are numerous ways to help support the ENP here. One of my favorite ways to support the organization is to purchase the coffee from ENP Coffee Co that I mentioned in last week’s post. They ship to the US! The park also has an opportunity to volunteer for 1 week which Zach and I would love to do in the future. Just planting a seed for anyone who wants to join us on our next adventure ?.
Exploring the ENP
We booked our tour directly through ENP and did a single day visit. We had a lovely tour guide named BeeBee who has been working at the ENP for about 14 years. She was very knowledgeable about the park and knew the names and personalities of all the elephants we met. She also captured one of my favorite pictures of all time that you can see below. There is such a genuine look of happiness and joy on both of our faces as we looked at the smiling elephant headed towards us (she thought we had food!). This photo definitely helps me relive those feelings when I look at it ?
My favorite elephant at the park was Jenny (pictured below) because she reminded me of my friend Jenny from high school. Obviously not because of how she looked but because her favorite activities are swimming and eating. My friend Jenny also loves swimming (and eating) and this shared interest is how we became good friends through our high school swim team.
Above: Jenny swimming and eating
Zach and I also got a chance to feed and pet the elephants. The elephant below was Zach’s favorite. Unlike an elephant who never forgets, Zach forgot her name! He said he will just remember her as “Granny” because she is one of the oldest elephants in the park.
Cat Kingdom? I thought this was an Elephant Sanctuary?
The ENP also helps rescue other animals including cats, dogs, and buffalo. They have an enormous cat sanctuary that houses over 2000 cats that we got to check out during our visit. I am definitely not a cat person (one of the many reasons I decided I could never be a veterinarian) but the cat kingdom is awesome. Their instagram page is also pretty cute @catkingdomofthailand.
Making New Friends
Besides meeting some really cool elephants we also got to meet some really cool people on our tour! We met two other couples who are also traveling around different parts of SE Asia. One couple (Dan and Sophie) work in biomedical research. Who would've thought that my adventures in SE Asia would involve great conversations about GLP-1 (a peptide I studied throughout my scientific career) and atrial fibrillation (the therapeutic area I focused on as an MSL) at an elephant sanctuary, what a small world! I absolutely couldn’t believe it when they told us that they are from Wrexham of all places! If you don’t know how awesome Wrexham is please watch Welcome to Wrexham, a documentary where Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney purchase a Welsh football club, Wrexham A.F.C. It is pretty much a reality version of Ted Lasso (also a great show if you haven't seen it). We ended the night drinking beers and closing down the U.N. Irish Pub in the Old Town. There is nothing better than sharing a unique experience with a new group of friends :)
Above: Kristy, Jake, Charly, Sophie, Dan and Zach
Thanks for letting us share our elephant sanctuary experience with you. Next week is sadly our last week in Chiang Mai ?. Time has flown by and the city has quickly become our second home (I guess it is technically our only home since we don’t have a place to live in Seattle). In our next post we will share our favorite experiences in Chiang Mai. Hopefully this will entice a few of you to visit us on our next trip to Northern Thailand!
